Yesterday, we took our #BoltEV on a 350 mile trip. Our goal: drive from Santa Cruz to San Luis Obispo in the morning and return by early evening. We do this trip once a month and thus far have always taken our Audi Allroad. It's about 170 miles each way.

With the Bolt's rated range of 238 miles, we should be able to make it to San Luis Obispo, charge during Karen's meeting, then make it back, right?

Having lived with a Ford Focus EV for the past three years, we were more than a bit nervous about driving any electric car beyond its rated range, but particularly when much of the trip would be out in the middle of nowhere - no towns, no charging stations. Plus, we knew that you don't get anywhere near the rated range at highway speeds, if you have strong headwinds, if you use the climate control, or if you have to climb hills. Part of the trip to San Luis Obispo involved climbing the 1533' Cuesta Grade, just 8 miles before our destination.

​We did a bit of planning and discovered that there were Chargepoint 24 DC kw fast charging stations in King City (about 85 miles from Santa Cruz) and in Paso Robles (just 30 miles from our destination). There were two evGO 50 kw DC fast chargers in San Luis Obispo in the Marigold Center. We'd found those on a previous trip.

We went to bed the night before with the biggest storm of the season raging outside. Heavy rain and winds shook the house. I don't think it was the weather that caused our somewhat sleepless night, it was the omnipresent range anxiety familiar to most EV owners.

The forecast for the next day was periodic heavy showers. If the weather looked really bad, we'd fall back on the Audi and would save the Bolt for a future trip.

But, as fortune would have it, we woke up to a morning of light showers and a few rays of sunshine here and there. We hopped in the Bolt and headed south. Traffic was light and we saw that at 70 mph, our consumption was averaging over 3.5 miles per kwH. With a battery capacity of 60 kwH, that should give us 210 miles. We felt a bit better.

Of course, there was a traffic jam on one of our shortcuts requiring a 7 mile detour; it was chilly and the windows fogged up with the rain; and when we caught the storm to the south, we faced pretty strong headwinds. But the Bolt was a pleasure to drive. The ride was surprisingly smooth on the concrete highway surface of Highway 101 and with the low center of gravity, it handled well even in gusty winds.

The park and square in downtown Paso Robles

As we neared Paso Robles, our expected remaining range was under 50 miles and we had a bit over 30 miles to go. Of course our elevation was about 700 feet and we still had to climb up to 1533 feet. We decided to play it safe and do a quick charge in Paso Robles at Cool Hand Luke's. The restaurant itself was closed but the charging station was available. We plugged in, tapped our Chargepoint card, and nothing happened. The card reader wasn't working.

​I waited on hold for nearly 15 minutes with Chargepoint. They activated the station and Karen and I walked the two blocks to grab an early light lunch at the highly recommended Red Scooter Cafe, one of many restaurants surrounding a gorgeous park in the center of the town.

Returning to the Bolt, we saw that we'd added a bit over 50 miles to the expected range and we made our way to San Luis Obispo. As we reached the top of the Grade, we saw that we had used about 30 of the expected miles. We could have made it without stopping at Paso Robles.

​We still had 45 minutes before Karen's meeting, so we plugged in at the evGO station and toured Marigold center looking for possible future lunch spots - there are several. Normally though, we have lunch at Novo downtown - great food and atmosphere on the deck above the creek on days with nicer weather.

The DC Fast Charging Surprise

I dropped Karen at her appointment and made my way back to the evGo station to fully charge the Bolt. 15 minutes later, the Bolt was charged to 80%. I had read that after 80% EV batteries charged slower, but I didn't realize how much slower. You do the straight line math, and with a 50 kw charger, you'd think you could fully charge the 60 kwH battery in an hour and 12 minutes, right? Not a chance. After 80%, the charge rate dropped to 17 kw, then at 90% capacity, it dropped to 10 kw, and at 98% to 6 kw. It took an over hour to get the Bolt charged from 80% to 100%.

The Return

I picked Karen up and we started home. Eight miles later at the top of Cuesta Grade, we'd used 8% of the battery. It was time for a bit of range anxiety again. But there was always King City if we needed it. As it turned out, in spite of some strong winds on the return, we didn't need to stop. It wasn't even close. We got back to Santa Cruz, 170 miles from our start, with 25% of the battery and an estimated 50+ miles remaining. ​

Conclusions and a few Notes

We love this car (see We Love our New #ChevyBolt). The more we drive it, the more we find to like. I'm sure Chevrolet wouldn't want to hear this, but we can't believe it's a Chevy! It handles like a European car - it's tight.

It is unlikely that we will experience range anxiety again. We understand the car and now we know about Fast Charging. 80% is a magic number. Our longer trips will need a bit more planning.

Last and not least, I note that we drove in LOW mode for the entire trip. I've become addicted to single pedal driving. Still, I'm not sure that I'm getting the max Regen when going downhill in LOW since I have to keep my foot on the accelerator pedal. Next month when we make our trip to San Luis, we'll give DRIVE mode a shot to see if it makes any difference on the downhills. Between now and then, we'll be doing 200 mile trips with no worries about range.

Bottom line, if you have any doubts about the Bolt, forget them. It's an amazing car. Buy one if you can!

Update 3/9/2017

We've now done several trips to San Luis Obispo and back. We leave Santa Cruz fully charged, drive 70 -75 mph most of the way (except in King City), charge once in San Luis at the 50kw EVgo station, and drive home, arriving with 25% of the battery left (~50 miles). We've had the car two and a half months and drive all over the Bay Area without even thinking about charging stations. We've verified that LOW mode is the most efficient and now we only drive in LOW mode. I don't see any disadvantages in performance. And, I can still say that the more we drive it, the more we love this car! My next blog post on the Bolt will likely be this summer after we do a trip to Oregon and back.

Although I had worked as a programmer for years before leaving the University, I don't think my career really started until I joined IBM. I learned a lot at IBM. Apart from the technical engineering side, I learned a lot about people and what it took to motivate them and build loyalty.

At the time, IBM believed that if you hired talented people, you should keep them for life. Even wiser was the belief that all IBM employees were valuable enough to be given free education and training if they wanted to do a career change within the company. During the course of my time there, I saw secretaries become managers and executives, salespeople become engineers, engineers become sales or support people, writers move into QA, and countless other moves. The possibilities were endless.

As an employee, the fact that I could change the direction of my career and that it would be fully supported made me a very loyal, motivated employee. Carrying this philosophy into other companies I worked for and into my own startups, I was rewarded with decades-long loyalty from some incredibly talented people. I tried to offer a sense of security and value, allowing them to change projects or jobs within the company, and to receive company-funded education.

And in spite of the rigors of multiple startups, I believe my team was truly happy.

Plus, as research has shown, this ability to learn and do new things not only makes us happier, it's critical to our longevity. It staves off dementia and helps keep us physically and mentally healthy. Without it, we stagnate. Our life becomes mundane. We become depressed and often spiral downhill, becoming resentful of those who are better off.

I'm going to make a leap here from this somewhat microscopic point of view to a much larger one. As many of you know, my wife Karen and I spend quite a bit of time in Europe, particularly France.

With changes in technology, lifestyle, and social interaction, many jobs have disappeared in Europe just as they have here in the States. Contrary to the opinions of the right-wing parties, these jobs are lost to the evolution of the economy, not to immigrants. Like everything else, economies must adapt and grow to survive.

But what about people who have lost their jobs? Shouldn't we try to save them? According to our President-Elect, we can do that. We can turn back the clock. The fact that we now drive automobiles shouldn't stop us from maintaining manufacturing of horse and buggy transportation. Right? And what about jobs going overseas? Shouldn't we stop the bleeding and protect our jobs here?

Although it's become a dirty word, globalization is a reality. Most modern economies need to trade internationally. Initially, this lowers costs for us, while simultaneously improving the economies and standards of living in the poorer countries. Ultimately though, those countries do better and eventually end up on equal footing. For me, this became evident in the tech industry with India. Years ago, many Silicon Valley companies moved much of their engineering to India to save costs. Today, the costs in India are often equal or higher than they are here. As standards and costs of living equalize globally, we'll see much less 'offshoring'.

In the meantime, though, people here are losing jobs. As the recent election has shown us, many of these were in manufacturing, mining, and some now 'obsolete' industries. What wasn't well-known is that US manufacturing output is at its highest level in years - we're manufacturing more with fewer people. Automation is making manufacturing processes more efficient. We don't need people to do the manual tasks anymore.

I'd like to think we'll continue moving forward to sustainable clean energy. Unfortunately, this means that industries like coal mining will suffer. What about the people who worked there?

The fact is, many parts of our economy are growing and have a shortage of people. We do need people who are trained and educated to program and operate the new automation equipment. We do need people who can work in the renewable energy field. If the manufacturing and energy companies were like IBM back in the seventies and eighties, they would retrain their people rather than laying them off. Unfortunately, companies have been pushed to increase profits and reduce costs at the expense of their loyal employees and of longer term company success.

So, what should we do? Is the President Elect correct? Can we turn back the clock and reinstate jobs that we don't need anymore? I don't think so.

Instead, we should follow the lead of the 'socialist' countries in Europe.

By many US definitions, France and of its sister EU nations are pretty socialistic. Taxes are high, but you're guaranteed retirement and healthcare. And, if you lose your job, not only does the government provide a basic income, they pay for education and training for your next job. True, there are people who abuse the system (like most systems), but those people are the exceptions. The vast majority learn new skills and live increasingly productive lives.

Education is an investment. I'm probably dating myself when I bring up the space race. In the 60s, President Kennedy had the vision to fund education programs emphasizing math and science. The results are the advanced technologies we now use every day.

Yes, this costs money. But it is an investment in the future. It's an investment in our most valuable resources - our people. It will more than pay for itself in future productivity and will reduce burden on the social support systems of the country. It will build people's confidence in themselves, and in our country. We just need the vision to look a bit beyond the immediate, knowing we must spend now to see a greater return in the future.

Thursday morning, December 29th, 2016 my phone rang. It was Kevin Rodriguez of Capitol Chevrolet calling to let me know that our new Chevy Bolt EV was in. They needed a couple of hours to finalize the prep, but we could pick it up that afternoon. However, with only 50 miles of charge, Kevin suggested that we might consider letting them charge it overnight so we wouldn't start our Bolt experience with range anxiety as we drove back to Santa Cruz over Highway 17.

Kevin, and Phil Benavidez, the finance manager, made the paper(less) work for our lease easy, and after a thorough training session which included pairing of our phones, Karen took the wheel. We noted that the average range estimate showed 239 miles. As she took off in the Bolt, I followed behind in our Audi Allroad. Twelve miles later at the summit of Highway 17, some 1800 vertical feet higher, we switched cars. The average range estimate showed 196 miles. I put the Bolt in Drive mode and headed down the hill. Once in the city, I switched to Low mode and tried the single pedal driving. It only took a few stoplights to get used to it once I realized that the car continued to regen even with my foot lightly on the accelerator.

We arrived in downtown Santa Cruz after a trip distance of 23 miles and the range estimate showed 216 miles - exactly 23 miles less than when we'd started!

That afternoon, my son-in-law and I made the trip into Felton to play a round at Black Mouse Disc Golf course and we travelled the windy Highway 9 to get a sense of the Bolt's handling. Yesterday morning, I made my first Bolt surf trip up the coast, and later we did a few errands around town. Upon returning, I spent some time going through every feature of the Bolt. We're planning a trip to San Luis Obispo (170 miles each way) next week and I'll do another post on our experiences with the Bolt on a longer range trip, but here's what we've learned so far:

Driving and Handling

​Whether it's the smooth curves of Highway 17, the tight winding Highway 9, or the open road of Highway 1, the Bolt is a pleasure to drive. The steering is tight and reminds me of our Audi. The low center of gravity gives the car a solid road-holding feel and when you step on the accelerator in a tight curve, the Bolt sits down and grips the road.

There's no slipping on starting up (as there was with our Ford Focus EV), and the acceleration is again, comparable to our Audi - very impressive! As with other EVs, the instant 100% torque availability makes passing a breeze. The turning radius is excellent - much better than the Focus EV where we often were forced into 3-point turns.

What we perceived as excessive road noise when we test drove a Bolt a few weeks ago isn't there in our production model. The car is quiet and the ride is smooth. Visibility is great with large windows and clever fold-down headrests.

I also now love the single pedal driving. I haven't used the brakes in quite a while and will likely only use them in critical situations. I don't see any reason to drive in anything but Low mode.

Cool blue LEDs line the dash at night

Surprisingly Cool Features

Range and Energy Usage Displays - In addition to the more detailed energy reports on the center console, I really appreciate the Driver Information Center. On the left side of the speedometer, there's the expected, optimal, and 'worst case' range estimates. To the right is a real time energy usage meter that tells you how many kw you are using (in yellow) or gaining through regen (in green).

Surround Vision Camera - Go to the home menu, touch Camera, and in addition to a a choice of front or rear view, you get a bird's eye view of the Bolt showing everything around you. The camera will operate at up to 8 mph. This also appears whenever you're in reverse.

Side Blind Zone Alert - The Audi has it and I've always appreciated it. The side view mirrors include an indicator which lights up when there is a car to the side of you and which flashes if you hit your turn signal with another vehicle nearby.

Pedestrian Detection - Driving down a narrow road with no sidewalks in dim light, I was pleased to see a pedestrian icon light up indicating an individual dressed in dark clothing walking on the side of the road.

Forward Collision Detection/Avoidance - We have this feature on the Audi too, but on some very windy roads, it mistakenly detects imminent collisions with trees in tight curves. The Bolt lets you adjust the distance for the collision detection.

Interior Night Lighting - The Bolts surprised us on our first night drive. The picture above doesn't do it justice, but the thin blue LED trim that caresses the dash is very cool.

Storage - You've heard about how roomy the Bolt is, but we were surprised by the amount of storage. There's plenty of space in the back near the hatch where a spare tire could have been placed, a surprisingly deep center console, and Karen's favorite, a space in front of the shifter, below the dash with plenty of room for a large purse.

Heated Steering Wheel - Particularly with an EV where you may not want to run the climate control too much, this is much appreciated on cold mornings when you first get into the car.

Heated Rear Seats - Our passengers (and there's plenty of room for them in the back seat), have always been jealous when we turn on our front seat heaters. Now they've got seat heaters too.

Intellibeam Headlights - I've always appreciated auto-dimming rear-view mirrors. The Bolt has added intelligent headlights. If it's really dark and there are no cars ahead it (optionally) puts on the high beams. If a car approaches, or you catch one from behind, it dims the lights. I've always felt guilty if I didn't dim my high beams quickly enough. Now the Bolt does it for me.

Rear Hatch Width - We haven't really needed it yet, but the rear hatch is the full width of the Bolt with tail/brake lights on the hatch itself. This will be useful in loading wide objects. However, watch out for low clearance to the side, the tail lights wrap around and extend downward. I hit my head on one, not noticing it was lower than the rest of the hatch.

Bird's eye view on the left and choice of front or rear camera for the right

​Not as Cool as I Hoped

Rear View Mirror Camera - the rear view mirror operates in two modes - a standard mirror with auto dimming, and a camera. I was really looking forward (or backwards) to this. I'd seen them in car rental shuttles where the back was blocked and thought it would be very useful. However, on the Bolt, it has a couple of problems. 1) The image is smaller than reality so you can't judge distances very well - cars are MUCH closer than they appear. 2) It's a video. Surprisingly, looking at your side view mirror, then up to the rear view plays tricks on your eyes. The reflections are not created equal. However it will be useful when the back is fully loaded and the rear view mirror is blocked. It could also be useful in parking or backing up as it gives you a bit of a surround view - almost into your blind spots.

Seats - While comfortable and roomy, it seems a bit unusual that the seats are manually adjusted. In a Premier model, I would expect electronically adjustable seats with memory. Perhaps it was a space/weight issue.

Other Features

Infotainment - Great Bose sound system and intuitive radio controls as you'd expect in most modern vehicles. I like the sound level adjustments on the back side of the steering wheel. It also includes a WiFi hotspot.

Lane Keep and Following Distance Indicator - The Lane Keep will ensure you stay in your lane. There are display icons to indicate your lane position and following distance.

Phone Pairing - Easy to set up and use for multiple phones. Voice commands work well. Android Auto does the trick for navigation, phone, text messaging, and other phone apps.

There are many other features including scheduled charging, scheduled start and stop (for warming/cooling above), top off - leaving the battery partially uncharged to take advantage of regen charging on a descent after starting. Many of these we'll probably never use.

I've heard some people complain about the shifter. I'm not sure what they're complaining about. It makes sense to me. Of course I haven't had to put it in neutral for a car wash yet. Per the owner's manual, that looks more complicated than it needs to be.

The Bolt comes with 2 free maintenance visits and free roadside assistance, 5 years of Basic Onstar service with 3 months of free full service, a 3 month SiriusXM satellite radio subscription, a 3 year/36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, a 5 year/60,000 powertrain warranty, and an 8 year/100,000 mile electric propulsion warranty.

A Few Negatives

No Battery Level Indicator - Maybe it exists, but I couldn't find a battery level indicator. Sure, the Bolt provides great range estimation, and several customizable reports on energy usage and efficiency, but I really like to know how much battery is left (as a numerical percentage of the capacity). While this is available through the MyChevrolet App, it really should be in the car itself.

No Navigation - Okay. We do use Google Maps for most of our navigation and it works fine through Android Auto. However, on the coast and in the mountains, we're often in areas where there is no cell service. It would be nice to have Nav for these areas.

KeyPass - I spent far too much time trying to figure this out. Theoretically, you pair your phone to allow it to control the car through the MyChevrolet App. There's a set up screen in the Settings section. You can follow the instructions in the Owner's Manual but they don't work. At this point, I think the feature is no longer supported. I suspect the MyChevrolet App does all it can without KeyPass. I'll let you know if I find out more.

Owner Registration - Apparently MyChevrolet (App and Website) only allows one owner account. Thus, my wife has to use my log in to get information about the car and to manage it remotely.

Conclusions

We LOVE this car. Amazing handling, fun to drive, and very practical for our sports-intensive activities. Having driven a Ford Focus EV for the past 3 years, there's no question that the Bolt is a quantum leap ahead. We're expecting the Bolt will meet 98% of our driving needs. We won't be taking it to the snow. We're hoping we can take it on longer trips using Fast Charging. It looks like this is getting easier as ChargePoint, EVgo, and others have teamed up to share infrastructure - it appears that we can use our ChargePoint cards on EVgo stations (and vice versa). This is part of the ROEV initiative where the charging network providers share resources much like using different banks' ATMs.

For those who have been following Bolt production, ours was ordered 10/10/16 with a targeted production week of 11/28/16. To my understanding we were number 11 on the wait list. 15 Bolts came in on 12/29 and apparently a few of the people lower down on the list did not receive theirs yet. We're grateful to Kevin Rodriguez, Phil Benavidez, and Scott Jobe of Capitol Chevrolet for making our Bolt acquistion an enjoyable process. But especially to Kevin who kept me regularly up to date after our first conversation in June of last year.

Click here to read about our 350 mile trip from Santa Cruz to San Luis Obispo and back.

A Few Updates (1/15/2017)

It just keeps getting better. With our Focus Electric, we were always concerned about whether we had charged it or not. Sometimes after a run up the coast, if I'd forgotten to plug in, we were limited in additional miles and had to wait for a recharge. Not so with the Bolt. As strange as it may sound, we just don't worry about charging anymore. We can drive pretty much anywhere we want and there's so much range left, that we don't need to plug in. Even better, we don't hesitate to use the climate control. Obviously, with the bigger battery, its impact is proportionally less, but it also seems to be more efficient - it doesn't reduce our projected range by anywhere near as much. And, it appears that for our short and around-town trips, we're getting over 300 miles of range. In other words, all of a sudden, our electric car is like a combustion engine car. Range anxiety is gone (though we do have to think a bit about longer trips). But for 98% of our driving, we can't tell the difference. The handling is phenomenal and is more like a European car, the ride is solid, and with the range, comfort, and storage space, I can't imagine a better car. Given a choice between a Tesla and a Bolt, I'll take the Bolt.

Just received a message on starting the Bolt that Keypass is ready to be activated. It appears a software update was done transparently and this feature now works. Haven't tried it yet, but I'm pleased to see that Chevy is on top of automatic software updates.